Arms of an Angel
by Anjirika
Summary: Spoilers for Season Seven and the departure of Amy and Rory. Do not read if you don't want to know what the spoilers entail, but if you do want to know, read on. This is the story where the Ponds leave the Doctor & his TARDIS for good this time.


DISCLAIMER: DOCTOR WHO DOESN'T BELONG TO ME, BUT TO THE GOOD FOLKS AT THE BBC, RTD & STEVEN MOFFAT.

_Author's Note: Do not read if you want to stay away from spoilers… but if you're like me and you just HAVE to know how Rory and Amy are reportedly leaving the show then read on for this is how I envision it happening… or rather this is how I hope that it'll happen. I would really like to know what you guys think of this little story so please, take the time to review if you can because this is my 100th story here on and I'm kinda stoked about that =)_

**Arms of an Angel**

Travelling with the Doctor again was like a dream. After showing up on their doorstep at Christmas, the last Time Lord had whisked Rory and Amy off on another whirlwind of adventures. Unlike the first time that the Doctor had showed up out of the blue or even the second, Rory was really and truly enjoying himself this time. Seeing her two boys getting along so well made Amy very happy.

The only thing in her opinion that was missing from their happy little adventures was River; her daughter Melody and the wife of the Doctor. Amy knew that River always had a habit of popping up at the worst times, when the Doctor had gotten himself into a right old mess and needed a vast amount of help to get out of it again, but she didn't really care. Amy was always looking forward to seeing River, and she hoped that that next time would be in New York.

"New York?" asked Rory excitedly as they strolled towards Central Park. "Why are we here?"

"Seemed like a good place to go. Early twenty-first century. The city is buzzing with activity…" the Doctor rambled as he picked up a book from a standing booth.

"Oi!" Amy exclaimed as she saw what he did. "You've got to pay for that you know."

"What with money?" the Doctor asked giving her a pout. "I don't have any of that."

"Well then I guess that you're just lucky that I do," she told him as she took the couple steps that were needed to the seller.

"I am sorry," she apologized as he handed over the money.

"It's alright," the old man told her in a weary voice. "I'm ninety-seven years old. I've seen it all."

Amy smiled at the old man and accepted her change before re-joining her boys. "You've really got to stop doing things like that," she told him as they continued walking. "All this travelling and no work does mean that our accounts are getting very, very low."

The Doctor just shook his head. "I don't have an account."

"You don't," Rory agreed. "But we do."

"And you need money?"

Amy nodded. "Yes. We do."

The Doctor nodded his head in understanding. "Ah alright then."

They continued to enjoy their happy day in New York City, never knowing that their happy day would soon be at an end. The Doctor, Rory and Amy walked along the paths of Central Park, gazed at the Statue of Liberty and went up to the top of the Empire State Building. Rory and Amy were entranced by the view of the city. They may have seen a lot of things during their travels with the Doctor but the sight of such a magnificent city from that vantage point was something to be marvelled at. The entire time they were up there the Doctor was prattling on about his last encounter with the Daleks in New York during the Great Depression but neither Amy nor Rory paid much attention to his ramblings. They were finding it far too hard to fit all his grand stories into the vast timeline of his life.

As dusk descended on the city, the bustle seemed to grow however the Doctor, Rory and Amy soon found themselves on a quiet and deserted street. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary until Amy noticed the statue of a woman and a boy across the street. Something about the statue struck a chord in her. The hair on the back of Amy's neck rose and every instinct was telling her to run far away.

The Doctor seemed to notice her distress and Rory could see his gaze following Amy's. He looked at the statues for a couple minutes before turning back to his companion. "There's nothing to worry about Amelia," he promised as he stepped in front of her gaze so that she couldn't see the statues anymore. "I know what you think that you're looking at them… but you're not."

The Doctor didn't have to explain the "them" to anyone. He was referring to the Weeping Angels, which were the one thing in the universe that Amy was the most afraid of mainly because one had tried to crawl out of her brain during one of her early adventures with the Doctor. But if the Doctor told Amy that there was nothing to worry about, then she was going to believe in him to the best of her ability.

Of course, that was hard when things went wrong and as soon as the lights on the street went out, all three of them knew that something was going wrong. When the lights flickered back on Amy was horrified to see that they were surrounded by the Weeping Angels, "But they were destroyed," she exclaimed as she clung to the Doctor. "They fell into the crack and were destroyed. Erased from time."

"I came back from being locked on the other side of the crack," the Doctor pointed out. "Clearly they came back too."

"So what are we supposed to do?" Rory asked as he stood beside Amy and the Doctor, although he was facing in a different direction to the two of them. "I mean, aside from not blinking. Not blinking is what we're supposed to do right?"

"Yeah," Amy confirmed as she reached out and took her husband by the hand. "Don't blink. Don't take your eyes off 'em, and don't blink."

The lights began to flicker once more and Amy could feel her fear growing. "Alright Ponds, I'm thinking that we're going to have to make a run for it," the Doctor stated as he pulled out his sonic screwdriver for defence. "We're not far from where the TARDIS is parked hopefully we can make it there before the Weeping Angels get us."

"So we run yeah?" Amy asked.

"On my count," the Doctor confirmed. "One… two…"

Before he could say three, the lights went out fully. The Doctor yelled for them to run, and he felt Amy take his hand. The Doctor assumed that she was holding onto Rory with her other hand and so he led the charge as fast as he could. Every footstep meant that he was getting his companions farther and farther away from the Weeping Angels and when he finally spotted a street lamp around the next corner, he knew that they were home free.

Amy sprinted past the Doctor and held onto the lamppost for dear life. Her heart was beating a mile a minute and she thought for sure that she was going to die. But she didn't. With a smile and a choked laugh she turned around to face her boys and saw only the Doctor.

"Where is he?" she asked in horror, striding past the Doctor into the dark, her eyes frantically searching for a sign that Rory was there. "Where is he?"

"Rory?" the Doctor called out, pulling Amy back into the pool of light that was cast by the streetlight. "Rory!"

"He's not there my love," came a familiar voice. Amy and the Doctor turned around and saw River standing there, looking very distraught. "There's nothing that you can do for him now."

"How can you say that?" he asked angrily as he strode towards his wife, though he wondered absent-mindedly if River really was his wife considering they married each other when all of time existed at once and was therefore not really time at all. "After all the things that I have done, how can you say that?"

"Because I've seen him," River explained sadly. "And so have you Doctor… sort of."

"So he's still alive then?" Amy asked hopefully. "The Angels didn't kill them?"

"No Amy," River stated. "They didn't kill them."

"Then where is he?" Amy demanded.

"Not where Amy…" the Doctor said sadly as he looked at the book that he had stashed in the pocket of his jacket. It was about Melody Malone and written by a man called R. Pond. When he looked at the author's picture in the back he was horrified to see that it was Rory. "When."

Amy looked to her Doctor with confusion in her eyes. "I don't understand."

"The Angels don't have to kill you," River explained. "Sometimes they take the rest of your days by sending you into the past."

"But you said that you've seen him River. That means that we can get to him."

"I can take you to him Amy," River said. "But he won't be your Rory anymore."

Amy shook her head. "What do you mean?"

"She means that because she has seen Rory his timeline is set," the Doctor explained though it caused him pain to do so. "It means that we're too late. There's nothing that we can do, before we even do anything."

Amy shook her head. "This can't be happening."

"Amy…"

"No!" she stated in anger as she stepped away from the Doctor. "You stay away from me. I don't want anything to do with you right now…"

"Amy,"

"And you!" Amy continued as she turned to her daughter. Amy wanted to yell and scream at River too, but she couldn't. Instead she just collapsed into tears. "There must be a way," she cried. "There has to be a way."

"I'm sorry Amy," River apologized as she wrapped one arm around her mother while taking the book from the Doctor with another. "But you need to see this."

Amy dried her tears and took the book from River. She recognized it as the book that the Doctor had practically stolen. What made matters worse was when she saw the name. "R. Pond?" she asked, tears coming once more to her eyes. "Rory? My Rory?"

Amy let out a broken sob as she turned to the back cover. There, in black and white was the image of the one true love of her life. Her Rory looking older than the last time that she had seen him. And when she looked a little closer she realized that he looked just the same as the old man who was selling the books earlier that day.

"Oh god…" she cried out as she collapsed to the ground. "I didn't even recognize him."

"I know," the Doctor comforted. "Neither did I."

"I can take you to him now," River promised. "If you want."

"But if I don't see him… doesn't that mean that we can fix this?"

River shook her head. "You've already seen him Amy. It's already too late. He's a part of your history and you can't cross it."

"No…" Amy cried. "No this can't be happening."

"That's what I said," came a new, elderly voice. "When I went back in time."

Amy looked up and saw the old man slowly walk into the light of the streetlight. Her breath caught in her throat as she recognized all the features of her beloved Rory on his face. She dropped the book, got to her feet and walked in a daze to him. With tears pouring down her face she lifted up a hand and touched his face gently. She looked into his eyes and could see that it really was her dear beloved Rory.

"I've been waiting for you," he said with a small smile. "Though seventy-seven years doesn't hold candle to two-thousand."

Amy let out a laugh despite herself and wrapped her arms around him. "Oh Rory…" she cried as she clung to him. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry."

"Shh…."

"You were right," she sobbed. "We should have never gone back with the Doctor. If we hadn't, this wouldn't have happened. We would have still been at home. Happy, safe."

"Amy…" Rory interrupted in a quiet voice. "What is done is done. Nothing can be done to change it."

Amy shook her head. "There has to be away," she cried. "There has to."

"There isn't. Not now… not after I sent little Melody to Ledworth to find us."

River looked up. "So it was you… you told me that I should go there. That I would find what I was looking for."

"Oh Rory," the Doctor sighed. "Why did you have to do that?"

"There was a little girl crying in the street; lost, alone and afraid. I knew what she was looking for and so I pointed her in the right direction," Rory told him. "I knew that I was sealing my fate the moment I opened my mouth but I couldn't just do nothing. She is my daughter after all."

"Thank you Dad," River choked out.

Rory gave river a smile. "You're welcome."

Just then the streetlight flickered and when it stabilized they saw that the Angels once again surrounded them. "Okay…" the Doctor muttered as he backed away from them. "This isn't good."

"Don't worry my love," River stated as she pulled out a small button-like device. "I know just how to get rid of them this time." With that said River pressed the button and all the lights in the city went on bright. Night became day and hundreds of people came out to look at the marvellous statues that had been set up in the street.

"Now we get out of here," she said as she pointed. "The TARDIS is this way, right?"

The Doctor nodded. "Yes it is."

"Then lets go."

When they were steps away from the TARDIS, Rory let out a sigh. "Never thought I'd be glad to see that blue box again… you know I saw it all over the place for a while. I met a friend who was in UNIT and she kept me apprised of all your comings and goings Doctor. Course I knew that it wasn't really you… not yet. But I did know that I would see you again and I am so glad that I lived to see this day."

"We're going to fix this Rory," Amy promised him. "Some how."

Rory shook his head. "No. There's no way. Just promise me something Amy."

"Anything."

"Live."

Before anyone could ask what Rory meant he suddenly collapsed against Amy. She couldn't hold his weight and so the Doctor and River had to help her, help him to the ground. "No…" she cried out as she cradled Rory in her arms. "…don't die. You can't die."

"I'm… sorry," Rory apologized in a broken voice as he stared up at his wife.

"I love you Rory Williams," Amy said through her sobs. "I love you so much."

"Love you too, so much." he whispered. "Do me… one… favour."

"Anything."

"Bury me…at…home."

Rory took in a last shuddering breath before going completely still. Amy could feel him die in her arms and she felt as though her entire world was crashing down around her. From the time that Amy was helped into the TARDIS, to the time that Rory was buried at home, in Ledworth Amy felt as though she was in a nightmare. She was reminded of all the times that she had lost her Rory before... When she had been forced to choose between two worlds, when he had disappeared into the crack, when she thought that he had died during his long vigil.

There was just one thing different this time around, the fact that he wasn't coming back. Amy could hardly process that thought, that she would never ever see her Rory again. She hated him for dying on her, but she hated herself more for thinking that she could have her cake and eat it too. After all that had happened, she had been incredibly naive to think that she could see the universe with the Doctor and not pay some sort of price. She felt like she should have known that she would lose everything that she held dear, especially once she had lost her baby to the grips of time.

Amy knelt before Rory's gravestone and traced his name slowly. She knew that the Doctor and River were standing beside the camouflaged TARDIS but she didn't want to deal with them at the moment. She held his book in her hand and flipped through it absentmindedly. Without really realizing it she found herself looking at the dedication. It read; _To my dear wife. Thank you for always being there. I couldn't have done this without you._

Amy looked at the dedication in confusion. She couldn't understand why he would write that, considering that she wouldn't be with him for the remainder of his life. For a horrible moment, she wondered if her Rory had gotten married and lived a whole lifetime without her. Frantic to know, Amy flipped to the bio and read it aloud to herself. "Rory Pond hails from England but lives happily in New York City with his dear wife Amelia and their two young children."

Amy clutched the book tightly in her hand and stood up. She turned to ask the Doctor and River what this meant. She wanted to know how Rory could have a wife called Amelia when she was Amelia, but when she glanced at them she saw that they were staring down an Angel.

Amy's breath caught in her throat as she realized that it was the same Angel from New York, and quite possibly the same one that had sent Rory back in time. She dropped the book to the ground and walked towards the Angel.

"Amy," the Doctor warned. "What are you doing? That's an Angel."

"I know," Amy stated as she walked right past the Doctor and River to stand in front of the Angel. "Are you the one?" she whispered to it, so quietly that she knew neither the Doctor nor River could hear her. "Are you the one that caught him?"

Amy closed her eyes and opened them again quickly but the Angel didn't move. "Close your eyes," Amy ordered angrily.

"But—" the Doctor protested.

"Now!" Amy screeched.

"Come on Doctor," River stated as she closed her eyes and put her hand across the Doctor's to ensure that he did the same.

Amy blinked and when she opened her eyes again she saw that the Angel had its arms open. It was an invitation and Amy knew that she had to take it. Without taking her eyes off it, she walked backwards through the graveyard to the Doctor and River. As soon as she got there she stopped and said, "Open your eyes."

"They're open Amy," River told her.

"And on the Angel."

Amy turned around and looked at River. Without having to say a word River nodded. She knew what her mother was planning and by nodding, she communicated that it would all work out and that she understood.

"I'll keep an eye on him," she promised, answering Amy's unasked question. "For as long as I'm able."

Amy smiled before bursting into tears. She embraced her daughter and knew that no matter what children were in her future, River Song was her Melody Pond— the daughter that was stolen away, but the daughter that would never be forgotten.

When Amy pulled away she turned to the Doctor, knowing that River would keep an eye on the Angel for her. "Doctor…" she began though the tears. "I want you to know that none of this is your fault. We made our choice, and we accept it."

The Doctor looked at Amy and she could see how confused the Time Lord was.

"I am going to miss you so much," she told him firmly as she hugged him too. "But I need you to promise me that you won't come visit. It'll be too painful that way."

"Amy?" the Doctor asked as she pulled away. He watched her wipe the tears from her eyes before turning and walking towards the Angel. It was only then; that he realized what he had planned. "No. No. No. No. No."

"I've made up my mind Raggedy Man," she called over her shoulder. "Don't try to stop me, and don't you dare try to come after me either."

"Amy please," the Doctor cried out. "Don't do this!"

"You have to let her go," River pleaded as she held onto the Doctor's arm.

The Doctor stood there, struggling against River until Amy walked right into the Angel's open arm. He blinked and when he looked again Amy was gone as was the Angel. The finality of the empty graveyard broke the Doctor's hearts and he found himself sinking to the ground, in shock. He didn't notice when River went to the grave of Rory and he didn't notice when she returned.

"You have to understand," River told him gently. "She would take her chances with that Angel, then live a lifetime without him."

The Doctor shook his head. "I've lost her. I've lost them both… they're your parents River. You must hate me."

River shook her head emphatically. "I could never hate you my love."

"But I lost them. They're…"

"Your family," she interjected. "I know. But you still have me, and all the companions that are to come."

"No," the Doctor said firmly as he stood up. "I can't say goodbye to anymore."

"Don't you dare talk like that," River told him. "You know better."

"River…"

"You told me once that you have gotten to that point before, thinking that you were better off alone but you always draw people in. It's your gift."

"It's a curse. I make people a danger to themselves," the Doctor insisted.

"You bring out the danger that is already there… and that is a good thing." River assured him.

"I fail to see how."

"Oh my sweet Doctor," River sighed. "If you had never brought Amy onto the TARDIS, if you had never decided to collect Rory too— then I would have never been born. All things in this universe have a purpose my love. We must trust in it."

The Doctor shook his head, still not entirely convinced. "Who told you that?"

"You did," River whispered in his ear.

The Doctor looked into River's eyes and saw the truth as she saw it. Everything that had happened led to her. She was a child of the TARDIS, a human- Time Lord hybrid, his wife and a chance for him to have a family again. If he had not had Amy and Rory as companions, then he would have lost out on her and perhaps the universe would cease to exist because River was always able to help him out of problems when things always seemed to be at their worst.

The Doctor leaned forward and kissed River gently before taking her hands and standing up. "So are they alright?"

River smiled and showed him the dedication, and the author bio in the book. The Doctor read the words and then looked to Rory's gravestone. His inscription was still there, but below it there was another one.

_Amelia Pond_

_1915 - 2010_

"So you were able to live your fairy tale life after all…" he whispered as he held the book close to his heart. "… dear Amelia, I'm so glad."

…

When Amy opened her eyes she was in Central Park. It was dark and it was raining. The Angel was nowhere in sight. No one was in sight. She wrapped her arms around her and headed towards the city knowing that her Rory was out there somewhere. She paused by a light for a moment and stood there, wondering which way she should go. That was when she heard the footsteps. She looked up and peered through the rain. Despite the trench coat and fedora she knew who it was the moment that she laid eyes on him.

With an unintelligible cry, Amy ran towards him and threw herself into his arms. "Oh I made it…" she cried as she buried her head into his shoulders.

"Amy!" Rory asked as he held onto his wife. "What are you doing here? Why would you do this?"

"Because I had to." Amy told him. "You're my entire world Rory. I love you."

"And I love you Amy but you gave up—"

Amy pulled away from her husband and whacked his arm. "When are you going to learn?" she asked through the tears. "I have always chosen you. I will always choose you too."

Rory held tight to Amy, thankful that she found her way to him. Neither of them knew what the future held in store, but they did know that so long as they faced it together they would be alright.

THE END


End file.
